SHIELD MEDAL OF VALOR

Family members of a Connecticut State Police trooper who died last year were presented with the “Shields Medal of Valor” on the one-year anniversary of his death.

On May 5, the family of Walter Greene, a Norwalk resident, was presented with the “Shields Medal of Valor” by the New York State Shields Executive Board for his actions on 9/ 11. The recipients were Suzanne Greene, his wife; Ted Greene, his father; and Danet Gaithers, his stepmother.

After the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, firefighters and police officers from the New York City region responded to lower Manhattan to help with rescue efforts. Among those to respond from Connecticut was Greene, a Connecticut State Police Trooper First Class.

Greene, who lived in Norwalk, was part of the state police team that drove from Connecticut straight to Ground Zero to help. State police said Greene “was responsible for transporting family members to/from Ground Zero and escorting loads of debris from the area.”

On June 30, 2016, Greene was diagnosed with Stage 4 KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer. His doctors told him the cancer was caused by exposure to toxins from the World Trade Center site, according to state police. On May 31, 2018, he died at the age of 51.

Greene was a member of the 101st training troop. He joined state police on June 1, 1990, and was initially assigned to Troop A in Southbury, and then Troop G in Bridgeport. After that, he moved to the Statewide Cooperative Crime Control Task Force before serving a majority of the latter part of his career in the traffic unit.